Railway car wall



1941- L E. E. SCHLESINGE R ,2 ,7

' RAILWAY CAR WALL Filed Sept. 28, 1940 '3 Sheets-Sheet 1 OOOEDO06060000000909 Nov. 25,1941. I E. E. SCHLESINGER 2,263,741 v RAILWAYCAR wALL' v Filed se t. 28, 1940 I s Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 25, 1941. E. E.scHLEsmGEk 7 v RAILWAY CAR WALL Filed Sept. 28, 1940 v s Sheets-Sheet 5Patented Nov. 25, 1941 RAILWAY CAR WALL Edgar E. Schlesinger, Chicago,Ill., assignor to Standard Railway Equipment Manufacturing Company,Chicago, 111., a corporation of Dela,-

ware

Application September 28, 1940, Serial No. 358,764

14 Claims.

This invention relates to railway car walls and more particularly toladders, grab irons and other safety appliances commonly attached to theside and end walls of railway cars, particularly house cars, such as boxcars and refrigerator cars.

An object of the invention is to provide adequate clearance between thewall of a car and the rungs of Iadders'grab irons and similarattachments. The safety appliance laws formulated by the InterstateCommerce Commission specify that there must be a clearance of at least 2and preferably 2 between the wall and the rung or grab iron to provideadequate space for the treadof a mans foot or for his holding on to therung or grab iron.

Another object of the invention is to keep the underframe of the car asshort as possible so as to save in the manufacturing cost of the car byreducing the weight thereof and also to save in the hauling cost of thecar by reducing the dead weight hauled.

The Interstate Commerce Commission has specified in its safety appliancelaws that ladders and grab irons mounted upon the end walls of railwaycars must be at least 12 inches from a vertical plane passing throughthe pulling face of the coupler knuckle when such knuckle is in theclosed position and when the horn of the coupler is pressed into contactwith the striking casting. If such clearance distance becomes less than12 inches, the car is charged with a penalty defect and will not beaccepted in interchange by any railroad. It is further provided thatacar having such defect must be repaired at the first opportunity andstill further that, if a car owned by one railroad or car operating lineis discovered to have such defectwhile in possession of anotherrailroad, the railroad having possession is required to repair the carso as to overcome the defect and may charge the owner of the car withthe cost of such repairs. It is an object of my invention, therefore, todesign a car wall in such a Way that the end ladder or grab iron may bekept well within the safety appliance laws without undue increase in thelength of the car underframe.

A further object is to comply with the safety laws and maintain aminimum length underframe while avoiding any weakening .of the wall ofthe car or impairing the resiliency thereof.

A still further object is todesign a corrugated end wall for a house carto meet the above mentioned conditions and, at the same time, avoiddifficulties in the manufacture of the wall.

accomplish this by keeping the length of the metallic platesubstantially equal if taken as a section through the end wall on anyplane between the corner posts of the car.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from thefollowing detailed description by referring to the accompanying drawmgs.

In the drawings:

Fig- 1 is an end elevation of a railway box car embodying my invention,U

Figs. 2 and 3 are enlarged sections taken on lines 22 and 3-3,respectively, of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a. view similar to Fig. 2, .showing .a modified construction.f

Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the end portions of two diagrammaticallyindicated cars coupled together.

Fig. 6 is a plan section on line 6--6 of Fig. 1.

Fig. '7 is a diagram showing the bending moment and section modulus ofthe endwall shown in Figs. 1 and 6, and in modified form in Fig. 4.

Fig. 8 is a sectionto. enlarged scale similar to a portion of Fig. 6". r

Fig. 9 is a portion of an end elevation of a car showing a modified formof my invention.

As shown in Fig. 1, the boxcar has spaced apart longitudinally extendingside sills 2 and spaced apart longitudinally extending side plates 3 atthe lower and upper margins, respectively, of the side walls 5. Postsextend between and are secured to the sills 2 and plates 3, includingthe corner posts 6 which, as shown in Figs. 6 and 8,, are W-shapedmembers in the modification illustrated. The end wall 8 of the carcomprises a metallic plate 9 formed with a flange ll of large radius 12on each verticalmargin thereof; the plate 9 and the flanges ll beingsecured to the W-section corner posts 6 to form box section cornermembers. My invention is not limited to a car having box section cornermembers but is equally applicable to a car having corner posts as shownin Fig. 3 of CredePatent No. 2,192,813, dated March 5, 1940.. g

The plate 9 is provided with outwardly projecting substantiallyhorizontal major corrugations extending between the opposite verticalmargins of the plate 9 and merging into the radiused parts [2 of theflanges l l. The major corrugations M are Wider and deeper in theportions of the .end wall 8 midway between the corner posts 6 and,become, gradually thinner and shallower toward the corner posts 6. Minorcorrugations [5 spring fromthe end wall plate 9' I between theendportions 16 of the major corrugations I4 and also merge into theradiused parts [2 of the flanges II. The merging parts of both major(l4) and minor (I5) corrugations are preferably symmetrical. The sidesheathing ll of the car is secured to both the corner posts 6 and theend wall flanges II, as shown in Figs. 6 and 8. The car is preferablyprovided with wood lining I8 for the end (8) and side (5) walls and theroof of the car is secured to the upper margin of the end wall 8. Cornercaps 2| and push pole pockets 23 reinforce the corners of the car.

The horizontal section of the end wall 8 shown in Fig. 6 and the diagramof Fig. 7 are related to each other in that the horizontal axis A of thediagram is proportional to the width of the car; that is, the distancebetween the corner posts 6 shown in Fig. 6. The scaled divisions on thevertical axis B of the diagram are proportioned in bending moment units,such as inch pounds. The parabola C is a graph of the bending momentinduced in the end wall of the car when a substantially horizontalthrust is distributed uniformly over every unit surface of the wall.This is in compliance with a well known rulethat a beam supported at itsends and loaded uniformly over its span has a bending moment indicatedby a parabolic curve. For example, the point at which the majorcorrugations l4 begin to taper toward their ends is indicated on Fig. 7by the line D which is a vertical projection from the point then thebending moment at point 30 is propor tional to the length of the line Dwhich is included between the horizontal axis A and the parabola C. Thisbending moment is measured by the scale along the line B, or thevertical axis of the graph. The scale on the vertical axis line B alsoindicates units of section modulus, such as inches cubed. The zig-zagline E indicates the section modulus of any point on an end wallcomprised of a metallic plate formed with outwardly projecting major(l4) and minor ([5) corrugations as hereinabove described. The sectionmodulus. for example, at point 30 is indicated by the length of the lineD which is included between the horizontal axis A of the graph and thezig-zag line A E. This section modulus is measured by the scale alongthe vertical axis B.

In order to determine the strength of the end wall 8 uniformly loaded ashereinabove described. the section modulus line, which in theillustration shown in Fig. '7, is the zig-zag line E, is laid out. Aparabola is drawn on the same horizontal axis. using the same terminalpoints as the section modulus line, the parabola being of the maximumsize which may be included entirely within the zig-zag line; in otherwords, no part of the zig-zag line should extend within the parabola. Itis evident from Fig. '7, then, that the parabola C is the largest thatcan be drawn within the zig-zag line E and the strength of the end wall8 can then be computed from the characteristics'of theparabola C. Alsoby a well known rule of mechanics, the end wall has its maximumresiliency when the zig-zag line E follows most closely the parabola C.

In a house car, a ladder 33 must be provided on one side wall 5 adjacenta corner of the car and another (34) on the end wall 8 adjacent the samecorner, such ladders 33, 34 to be arranged so that a man can climb fromthe ground upon the roof of the car. The corner of the car diagonallydisposed from this corner is similarly equipped. The other two cornersof the car are equipped with grab irons 36 and steps 3! arranged so thatswitchmen may support themselves by such steps and grab irons and ridethe car during switching operations. The Interstate Commerce Commissionhas set up very rigid requirements in regard to such ladders and grabirons. As hereinbefore pointed out, there must be a clearance of atleast 2" and preferably 2 between the wall of the car and the part ofthe ladder or grab iron upon which a man's hand or foot is intended torest.

Fig. 5 is a. diagram wherein the lines 62 indicate diagrammatically theoutlines of two adjacent house cars coupled together. Striking castings43 which form caps or reinforcements for the ends of the underframecenter sills commonly extend beyond the end walls 8 of the car. Thecouplers 45 are supported by the center sills of the car and extendthrough openings 45 (see Fig. l) in the striking castings 43.

In certain rules formulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission thecouplers 45 are to be forced inwardly through the openings 45 as far aspossible (see Fig. 5); that is, until the horns 48 of the couplers 45meet the striking castings 43; then an imaginary vertical plane G isdrawn through the pulling faces 49 of the coupler knuckles 5| when suchknuckles are in their closed positions. Using this imaginary plane G asa reference plane, it is required that ladders and grab irons mountedupon the end walls of cars must be at least 12" from this plane. Thisdistance is indicated by dimension H in Fig. 5. If dimension H shouldbecome less than 12" the car acquires a penalty defect with theconsequences hereinabove pointed out.

The end walls of railway cars, particularly house cars intended for thetransportation of breakable commodities, are designed to be relativelyresilient so that when the lading is thrust against the end wall of thecar during service movements of the train, the end wall bulges outwardlyand often takes a permanent set in preference to excessive shocks uponthe lading with consequent damage to such lading. It is evident that aheavy thrust from inside the car upon an end wall might give such wall acontour indicated by the dotted line of Fig. 5. When the end wallacquires this bowed contour. the ladders 51 and grab irons 53 mountedthereon are obviously moved toward the reference plane G. The distancebetween the ladder 51 (or the grab iron 58) mounted on the bowed end andthe reference plane G is indicated by the dimensions J in Fig. 5. Sincethe distance J must, at all times, be not less than 12", it has becomecommon practice to design cars so that dimension H is 14" or more so asto avoid a penalty defect when the end wall is bowed outwardly. It isapparent that increasing the dimension H also means extending thestriking casting 43 outwardly and increasing the length of theunderframe of the car.

The end ladder 34, as shown in Fig. 1, is comprised of spaced apartvertically extending stiles 60 and spaced apart horizontally extendingrungs 6|. The rungs 6| are preferably disposed opposite certain of theminor corrugations [5 of the end wall plate 9. The grab iron 35 shown tothe right of Fig. l is also preferably disposed adjacent a minorcorrugation IS. The apices 63 of these minor corrugations [5 aredepressed inwardly; in other words, the apices 63 instead of beingconvex outwardly are now concave out wardly, as shown to enlarged scalein Figs. 2 and I 3. Where a ladder rung or grab iron does notnecessitate depressing a corrugation, as the major corrugations I5 orthe minor corrugations '64 at the upper right part of Fig. 1, thecontour of such corrugations is preferably like the major corrugation 66in Fig. 2. The safety appliance laws are complied with if the radiusdimension K in Fig. 2 is 2", preferably 2 1 or even greater. In order tofacilitate manufacture, the length of the cross section through theundepress'ed corrugations like 66 between 'points 68 and 69 plus thelength of the cross section through the depressedcorrugations' like "Hbetween points 68 and 13 is preferably substantially equal to the lengthof the cross section taken on any plane between the corner posts of thecar. Such an arrangement facilitates the easy flow of metal duringpressing of the plate and eliminates the possibility of wrinkles beingformed.

An end wall having a cross sectional contour as indicated in Fig. 2,wherein the major corrugations l4 extend undepressed betweenthe cornerposts and the :minor corrugations i5 are depressed adjacent the ladderrungs 6!, has a section modulus indicated by the line M in Fig. '7. Itis pointed out that the line M is outside the bending moment parabola Cfor the end wall 8 vention, conditions are such that ladders 34 and grabirons 36 may be moved 1% closer to the interior of the car by depressingcertain minor corrugations l5 as disclosed. It is evident from Fig. 5that the moving of the ladders 34 and grab irons 36 closer to theinterior of the car makes possible a shortening of the striking castings43 an equal amount. Striking castings are commonly heavy metallicmembers (cast or fabricated) so that any reduction in the size thereofresults in a very considerable saving in cost and weight of the car. i vi 1 r Fig. 3 showsdetails of the method of mounting the grab irons 36upon the end wall 8 so as'to make use of the depressed minorcorrugations 16.

Fig. 4 is similar to Fig. 2, but shows a minor corrugation 86 with aflat apex 8! in place of an apex having an outwardly concave surface.With such' an arrangement, the ladder rung 83 must be a slightly greaterdistance from the interior of the car than is necessary with a design asshown in Fig. 2. The section modulus of an end wall wherein the minorcorrugations 80 are flattened, as in Fig. 4, is indicated by the line Nin Fig. '7. It is evident, as is the case of Fig. 2, that the flattenedminor corrugations 86 do not detract from the strength of the endbecause the line N is also outside the parabola C.

It is evident from Figs. 2 and 8 that a depression (16) in a minorcorrugation l5 results, in effect, in biiurcating the minor corrugation.In other words, the minor corrugation is split to form two parts at, onepart being disposed on each side of the rung 6 I.

I do not intend to limit my invention to an end wall wherein the minorcorrugations are depressed to provide adequate clearance for ladderrungs and grab irons. For example, Fig. 9 shows a modification whereinthe ladder rungs St are disposed opposite the end portions of the majorcorrugations 9|, in which case the apices of the major corrugations 9!may be depressed inwardly (93) to provide clearance. Such an arrangementwould not weaken the end any more than depressing the minorcorrugations. Furthermore, corrugated walls may be provided wherein onlythe major corrugations extend between the corner posts of the car; inother words, the minor corrugations would be dispensed with. With suchan 'arra'ngeinent the corrugations could also be depressed in amannersimilar to that herein disclosed for depressing the minor or majorcorrugations.

Theaccoinpanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of theinvention, though it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the-exact details of construction shown and described, as itis obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of theclaims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1-. In a railway car having a wall comprised of a metallic plate, saidplate formed with a plurality of spaced apart outwardly projectingsubstantially horizontal corrugations, a rung disposed adjacent one ofsaid corrugations, substantially the entire portion of said lastmentioned corrugation which is aligned with said run having reduceddepth to provide clearance between said wall and said rung.

2. In a railway car having a wall comprised of a metallic plate, saidplate formed with a plurality of spaced apart outwardly projectingsubstantially horizontal corrugations, a rung disposed-adjacent one ofsaid corrugations, the portion of said last mentioned corrugation whichis adjacent said rung having a flattened apex. thereby forming acorrugation having reduced depth to provide clearance between said walland said rung.

3. In a railway car having a wall comprised of a metallic plate, saidplate formed with a plurality of spaced apart outwardly projecting majorcorrugations, a plurality of spaced apart minor corrugations between theend portions of the major corrugations, a ladder having spaced apartrungs disposed respectively adjacent certain of said minor corrugations,the portions of said last mentioned corrugations which are adjacent saidrungs having reduced depth to provide clearance between said wall andsaid rungs.

a. In a railway car having a wall comprised of a metallic plate, saidplate formed with a plurality of spaced apart outwardly projectingsubstantially horizontal corrugations, a ladder having spaced apartrungs disposed respectively adjacent certain of said corrugations,substantially the entire portions of said last mentioned corrugationswhich are aligned with said rungs having reduced depth to provideclearance between said wall and said rungs.

5. In a railway car having a wall comprised of a metallic plate, saidplate formed with a plurality of spaced apart outwardly projectingsubstantially horizontal corrugations, a grab iron disposed adjacent oneof said corrugations, substantially the entire portion of said lastmentioned corrugation which is aligned with said grab iron havingreduced depth to provide clearance between said wall and said grab iron.

6. In a railway car having a wall comprised of a metallic plate, saidplate formed with a plurality of spaced apart outwardly projectingcorrugations, a rung substantially aligned with one of said corrugationsat least, a portion of the apex of said last mentioned corrugation beingformed concave outwardly to provide clearance between the corrugationand the rung.

'7. In a railway car having a wall comprised of a metallic plate, saidplate formed with a plu rality of spaced apart outwardly projectingsubstantially horizontal corrugations, a ladder having spaced apartrungs respectively aligned with certain of said corrugations the apicesof at least parts of said last mentioned corrugations being formedconcave outwardly to provide clearance between the corrugations and therungs.

8. In a railway car having a wall comprised of a metallic plate, saidplate formed with a plurality of spaced apart outwardly projecting majorcorrugations and a plurality of spaced H apart minor corrugationsbetween the end portions of the major corrugations, a ladder havingspaced apart rungs disposed respectively adjacent certain of said minorcorrugations, said last mentioned corrugations being depressed inwardlyto form clearance between the corrugations and the rungs.

9. In a railway car having a wall comprised of a metallic plate, saidplate formed with a plurality of spaced apart outwardly projectingcorrugations, a rung disposed adjacent one of said corrugations, saidlast mentioned corrugation being depressed inwardly to form clearancebetween the corrugation and the rung, the length of the cross section ofthe depressed and undepressed parts of the corrugation beingsubstantially equal. 10. In a railway car having a wall comprised of ametallic plate, said plate formed with a plurality of spaced apartoutwardly projecting substantially horizontal major corrugations, aplurality of spaced apart minor corrugations between the end portions ofthe major corrugations, certain of said minor corrugations dividingadjacent their ends to form a greater number of shallower corrugationsand a ladder adjacent said wall having spaced apart rungs, each disposedadjacent a space between two of said shallow corrugations.

11. In a railway car having spaced apart frame members, a metallic plateextending between and secured to said frame members, said plate formedwith a plurality of outwardly projecting substantially horizontalcorrugations arranged so that said plate functions as a beam betweensaid frame members and one or more rungs disposed respectively adjacentcertain of said corrugations, the apices of said last mentionedcorrugations being depressed inwardly adjacent said rungs to increasethe clearance betweenthe rungs and the corrugations and proportioned soas to maintain the beam strength of said plate substantially equal tothe strength of a plate wherein the corrugations are not depressed.

12. In a railway car having spaced apart frame members, a metallic plateextending between and secured to said frame members, said plate formedwith a plurality of outwardly projecting substantially horizontal majorcorrugations and a plurality of spaced apart minor corrugations disposedbetween the end portions of said major corrugations arranged so thatsaid plate functions as a beam between said frame members and one ormore rungs disposed respectively ad; jacent certain of said minorcorrugations, the apices of said last mentioned corrugations beingdepressed inwardly adjacent said rungs to increase the clearance betweenthe rungs and the corrugations and proportioned so as to maintain thebeam strength of said plate substantially equal to the strength of aplate wherein the corrugations are not depressed.

13. A metallic plate adapted to be used as a wall of a railway car inwhich a ladder is disposed entirely adjacent said wall, said plateformed with a plurality of spaced apart substantially horizontalcorrugations having apices projecting convexly on one side of saidplate, a portion of at least one of said apices being concave and havinga height less than the height of the convex portions to provideclearance between said plate and the rungs of said ladder.

14. In a railway car, a corner post comprising a pair of angularlydisposed arms, a metallic end wall plate having a vertical marginflanged on a relatively large radius, means to secure one of said armsto the body part of said late and the other of said arms to the flangethereby forming a hollow post structure, said plate formed with aplurality of spaced apart substantially horizontal, outwardly projectingcorrugations which merge into said flange, and a ladder spaced outwardlyfrom said plate and including a plurality of rungs respectively alignedwith certain of said corrugations, the apices of said certaincorrugations being depressed inwardly to provide increased clearancebetween said rungs and said plate and the depressed parts also merginginto the flange of said plate.

EDGAR E. SCHLESINGER.

